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kamikaze

kah-mih-KAH-zee · noun

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Origin

Borrowed from Japanese 神風 (kamikaze, "divine wind"), a compound of 神 (kami, "divine") and 風 (kaze, "wind").

Journey

The term originally named the typhoon that wrecked the Mongol navy invading Japan in 1281, credited as an act of divine protection; it later came to describe the suicide pilots of World War II.

Related words

The facts given don't support connecting it to any English cognate — it stands as a direct borrowing rather than a word with English relatives.

More words

From Japanese

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